There will be a raffle and a silent auction, plus live klezmer music by Marty Flashman. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 6 to 12 and free for kids 5 and under. Tickets are available at the door or by calling 444-2846. Visit www.templebetheleureka.org for more information.

Country artist Heather Layne gives free concert

EUREKA -- The public is invited to a free concert at Faith Center on Monday at 7 p.m. featuring country artist Heather Layne. She is a singer/songwriter and Nashville recording artist heard on country music radio stations across the U.S. and overseas.

"When my life hit bottom over a decade ago, I felt lost, confused and wondered why I was even breathing," said Layne. "As I worked the 12 steps, God worked in my heart, and my life started to untangle. I began to find purpose, and a dream that had always existed in my heart -- to sing and play guitar -- became a reality."

"If I Were a Carpenter: Building Unity With Instruments of Reconciliation," a User-Friendly Guide, is offered next week by the CSJ Educational Network, a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. The theological foundations for the Church's teachings on unity and reconciliation will be explored. Ways of learning, teaching and living these concepts as pilgrims on the journey will be investigated. This session will be led by Dr. Maryloyola Yettke and is free.

The Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir wants to take the choir to "a whole new level of professionalism and musicanship," it says on its website, and to that end the choir has launched a fundraising project on Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) to raise the funds.

"We are planning a concert at one of the best venues in the county, with top-notch sound quality. We'll also produce a CD and a DVD of the show. To express our vision of unity in diversity, we plan to buy and wear new choir robes," the website states.

For the first time, the choir will perform its spring concert, "Rejoicing in Song," at the Arkley Center for the Performing Arts in Eureka on May 4. Award-winning blues singer Earl Thomas will join the choir for the concert, singing songs from his gospel CD.

To help, visit Kickstarter and search for "Arcata Interfaith Gospel" -- it should be the first project that appears. Donors of various amounts will receive thank-you gifts.